Canis Major
Great Dog (Canis Majoris)
Canis Major, the Greater Dog, is dominated by Sirius, the brightest star in the entire night sky at magnitude -1.46. This winter constellation represents one of Orion's hunting dogs and appears to faithfully follow the hunter across the sky. The region is rich in open star clusters and lies along one of the spiral arms of our Milky Way galaxy.
📜 Mythology
Canis Major represents one of Orion's faithful hunting dogs, accompanying the great hunter on his eternal chase across the heavens. In one myth, the dog is Laelaps, a magical hound that never failed to catch its prey. Zeus placed Laelaps in the sky after he was set to chase the Teumessian fox, a beast that could never be caught - an impossible paradox that Zeus resolved by turning both to stone and then to stars.
💡 Facts
- ✦Sirius is the brightest star in our night sky and means 'scorching' or 'glowing' in Greek
- ✦Ancient Egyptians based their calendar on the heliacal rising of Sirius, which predicted the annual Nile flood
- ✦Sirius is actually a binary star system; its companion Sirius B was the first white dwarf star discovered